Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Menstruation myths in society and religion

Bleeding women often are discriminated in families due to myths and
‘illogical’ reasoning.

You will not believe the kind of myths are prevalent about menstruation
even in so called ‘educated’ families.

‘Don’t touch the pickle while menstruating- this I also heard when I was
young from my grandmother, as my mother is thankfully ‘very progressive’ when
it comes to the myths.

If you travel across the hill areas of India, the cultural diversity is
beautiful, yet every culture has some sort of discrimination against the women.

Girls are even not allowed to enter in the kitchen during menstruation.

In India even
mere mention of the topic has been a taboo in the past and even to this date
the cultural and social influences appear to be a hurdle for advancement of
knowledge on the subject.

The
unawareness discourages woman and somehow she feels guilty and as a sinner for
being a woman due to religious and social myths.

What does Veda say about Menstruation?

The origin of
this myth dates back to the Vedic times and is often been linked to Indra's
slaying of Vritras. For, it has been declared in the Veda that guilt, of
killing a brahmana-murder, appears every month as menstrual flow as women had
taken upon themselves a part of Indra's guilt.

Further, in
the Hindu faith, women are prohibited from participating in normal life while
menstruating.

She must be
“purified” before she is allowed to return to her family and day to day chores
of her life.

What does the Islam
say about menstruation?

Even after marriage, there are limitations: a man should not
have intercourse during his wife's menstruation and afterbirth periods.
(Reference)

Research has shown that reproductive health in Pakistan is
influenced by cultural and religious values, mostly from the predominantly
Islamic faith, and local traditions. Often these beliefs are misconceptions and
myths resulting from the deliberate withholding of information about
menstruation for girls prior to their first period, as a means of protecting
their chastity.

This in turn negatively impacts their physical and emotional
health.

Can I have
sex during my period? and If I do can I get pregnant?

It’s perfectly safe to have sex during your period.
In fact, having an orgasm may help relieve menstrual cramps. However, if some
women go through pain, they can avoid it. The fact is, there is no ‘universal
rule’ that one should not have sex during periods.

If a woman is using a tampon, she should remove it
before anything is inserted into her vagina during sex. Otherwise the tampon
and its string could get pushed up too deep in the vagina for the woman to get
it out herself.

It’s possible (although rare) for a woman to get
pregnant during her period. A woman has a good chance of becoming pregnant from
unprotected vaginal intercourse during the six days that end in ovulation.

She’s less likely to become pregnant from
unprotected intercourse in the day or two following ovulations, but it’s
possible. Ovulation usually occurs about 14 days before the start of a woman’s
menstrual cycle. Sperm can live up to seven days.

In very short cycles — less than 22 days — it’s
possible for live sperm from sex during menstruation to still be in a woman’s
reproductive tract when ovulation occurs.

What
does the Bible say about menstruation?

The bible goes into detail
about how a woman on her period is unclean. Her uncleanliness doesn’t stop with
her body. It goes infectious that anything she touches while on her period is
unclean.

Like an extreme form of cooties, anyone who
touches an object she has touched also becomes unclean for a day.

More absurdity was added
that if a man has sex with a menstruating woman, he’s unclean for seven days.

No doubt women were not allowed
to work, and were held at home.

Once her period is over,
the woman still has work to do. She has
to give a sin offering to atone for the impurity. The holy scripture against
make you as a sinner, and when a girl gets her period when she is between 11
years to 14, do you even realize that how much guilt she feels without doing anything?

I do not think people took
this matter seriously, it lowers the self-esteem by being labelled as a sinner
by the holy text. This is sickness seriously.

What is menstruation?

Menstruation
is the natural part of the reproductive cycle in which blood from the uterus
exits through the vagina. It is a natural process that first occurs in girls
usually between the age of 11 and 14 years and is one of the indicators of the
onset of puberty among them.

Despite being
a phenomenon unique to girls, this has always been surrounded by secrecy and
myths in many societies.

However,
scientifically it is known that the actual cause of menstruation is ovulation
followed by missed chance of pregnancy that results in bleeding from the
endometrial vessels and is followed by preparation of the next cycle.

Therefore,
there seems no reason for this notion to persist that menstruating women are
“impure.”

Prominent Myths related to the menstruation

Ladies if you
are being told the following, make the checklist that it is a myth

-Period
blood makes you ‘dirty’

-Period
blood spreads cancer - Traditional beliefs in Bolivia misinform young
women and girls that the disposal of their menstrual pads with other garbage
could lead to sickness or cancer, according to UNICEF. Because there’s still so
much humiliation around the topic, many are told to keep their pads far away
from the rest of the trash and are often led to collecting them in their bags
during the school day until they get home.

-Shark
attacks you when you are on periods

-The
food will be contaminated if you touch it during periods and India women suffer
due to this

-Showering
will cause you infertility

-Girls
can’t practice in class as practiced in Nepal

-You
can not touch the pickle in India

-You
can not have sex in Muslim Nations

-You
are a sinner and impure that’s why you are getting periods.

-You
can not enter in holy shrines, and this is often practiced in Nepal and India

-You
are sick as this is a prevalent myth in Iran

Periods are natural and
part of your life. Primitive literature, they wrote it without proper understanding
of science. Believing in religious text or not believing in text is totally up
to you, but don’t compromise with health.

Understand your body and
respect it. Menstruation does not make you impure, they make you capable of
producing the next generation.

The bottom line is period taboos are
not only crazy and ridiculous but they are a huge obstacle holding women back
in many ways.

It’s hard to believe these myths
still exist all over the world today. But they do, and they need to be busted.

Awareness and education, especially
for people in rural and developing countries, is necessary to empower girls and
women everywhere. Together we can create a better world where girls believe
periods are powerful not shameful.

Disclaimer

This post intends to hurt
your sentiments to the point that you wake up and stand for humanity.In case, if you are extremely wounded, please
treat her nice. Thank you!